Khmu

Khmu is the chief language of the Khmuic branch of the Austroasiatic family, spoken mainly in the hills of northern Laos and adjoining Vietnam, Thailand and Yunnan. The Khmuic peoples are thought to descend from early settlers of northern Indochina; they once held the lowlands of Laos and northern Thailand until Mon and Khmer empires and then incoming Tai peoples absorbed them or drove them into the mountains.

When Fa Ngum founded the Tai-Lao kingdom of Lan Xang in 1353, the Khmu were swidden farmers known as the Lao Theung. Khmu has no standard variety: its western dialects contrast breathy and tense registers, while eastern dialects keep a three-way contrast of initial consonants. Long unwritten, the language was carried chiefly by oral story-telling.